The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 513

Chapter 513: Another First Born

 

Vivian had always evaluated the history passed down by short-lived species from the perspective of a long-lived species. These evaluations were always profound and accurate. When looking back at the story of the witch in the Andrea Family, the truth of the family legend had such a huge distortion in just 300 years. One could only imagine the historical record of the Plane of Dreams for the past 10,000 years—there were several twists and interruptions in the middle. Therefore, it was understandable that there were so many errors in the legends, which had been circulating until the present.

At this point, even the long-lived species in the Plane of Dreams had no idea what the truth was.

People always thought it was the study of taboo technology by the Ancient Magical Empire that offended the goddess, and the artificial miracles built by the mage-emperors were a sign of blasphemy. The three wonders, including the Volcano of Dusk had long been seen as an indication of heresy. But, who would have thought that these things were actually used to suppress the First Borns?

Nonetheless, the effect of the suppression was quite limited.

At the foot of the Volcano of Dusk was a vast wilderness. It was paved with layers of huge black rocks, which stretched to the eastern coastline. On a small mound in the midst of the wilderness and Limestone Fortress stood an ancient monastery. It appeared to be almost abandoned.

It was one of the last monasteries belonging to the Disciples of Glory on the eastern side of the kingdom. There were only a few old ascetics inside.

The mottled walls of the monastery were covered in thistles and thorns. The monastery was surrounded by pieces of stones and sparse salt-tolerant bushes. From the outside, probably no one could imagine that this was the second sacred cavern, the Church of the Watch. They did not delay any longer in Limestone Fortress. After a simple conversation with the guards, Ophra led them directly to the shabby monastery. The entrance to the sacred cave was just below the monastery.

Lily looked at the dilapidated the ancient monastery with a certain kind of feeling. “This place is really shabby… A fortress, and an old monastery, could they really protect such an important place?”

“Don’t underestimate these ancient facilities,” Orben said and shook his head. “The three ancient ruins have a corresponding sacred cavern; the chapel in Beinz Blood Lake, the old monastery of the Volcano of Dusk, and the chapel of the Giant Tree of Life. These three facilities are the oldest and most powerful of the divine nodes. The network of churches in the entire kingdom are providing energy to these three nodes. Although they look dilapidated, even an army can hardly break through their defenses.”

“The chapel in Beinz Blood Lake was ruined in just a moment. After our investigation, we found that the First Born had completely cut off the divine operation of the chapel,” Ophra shrugged and said, “It turns out that the First Born’s power is far beyond our understanding. Even the Ancient Magic Empire couldn’t fight it. Our present system is even more useless.”

Orben shook his head and did not speak again. The ascetics of the small monastery opened the entrance that led underground. The entrance was located in the backyard of the monastery. From the outside, it was just a big, ordinary tombstone. Hao Ren guessed that the chapel in Beinz Blood Lake also had such an entrance to the Divine Sarcophagus. However, before he could find the entrance, the whole chapel had been engulfed in the whirlpool.

The three sacred caverns had the same structure. The First Born slept in a huge underground cave surrounded by a maze-like cavern system. Above this system, there was a layer of man-made rock shells (the builders were those ancient mage-emperors), which supported the upper surface. Just right above the system, a chapel was built (the creator was the first pope of the Disciples of Glory). Under the chapel, there was a security device that constantly “hypnotized” the First Born. It was the Divine Sarcophagus.

The whole structure was like nailing a silver nail into a coffin to prevent the evil spirit from being resurrected. The world had been under the protection of this fragile safety device for 10,000 years.

They walked down a steep rock corridor and finally got undergroud. It was a medium-sized underground palace; very spacious, but the structure was simple. There were no decorations, just a plain practical facility.

Hao Ren walked behind Orben. When he came out of the corridor, he saw a spacious hall illuminated by a magical glowing stone. A stone altar was placed in the center of the hall. The stone altar was empty, but the slight sunken surface in its center seemed to prove that something had been placed there. And around the hall, there were many gray-robed ascetics who were meditating.

“This is the group of ascetics sent from the capital,” Ophra explained in a low voice. “The Church and the king sent a lot of men to monitor the movement of the two sacred caverns. But because the minds of ordinary people would be controlled if they got too close to the tentacles, most of them can only stay in Limestone Fortress. Only these ascetics and a few high-ranking knights have entered the ground. Those knights are in the other crypts.”

Hao Ren nodded. He knew that the First Born’s sleeping place was like a huge underground maze. There would be numerous criss-crossing corridors and huge crypts around. The knights and ascetics from the capital had probably gone to every crypt, while the ascetics there were most likely responsible for guarding the entrance.

There was no change in the surface of the Volcano of Dusk, but layers of defense had been set up under it. Nevertheless, it only worked as psychological comfort.

Orben pointed at the stone altar in the center of the long hall and said, “This was used to place the Divine Sarcophagus, but after opening a layer of the sacred cavern, we moved the Divine Sarcophagus to a deeper place.”

Then, he led them across the hall and into another, more inclined, downward corridor. Soon everyone walked through a stone wall that looked like it had just been broken, and the road ahead suddenly broadened.

“We have just passed the outer wall of the underground palace, which we just broke it last month,” another bishop looked back at the black stone wall engraved with Letta runes and said, “starting from here we entered the First Born’s sphere of influence.”

Several ministers in the team immediately clenched the magic amulet in their hands. They were just ordinary men. They did not have the strong mind like ascetics or the strong will of those knights. Because of the mission, they entered the territory of the First Born and relied on the blessed amulet to move freely in this underground world.

“It’s getting hot now,” said Nangong Wuyue. She was the first one to sense the subtle change of the surrounding. “And the air smell like… sulfur?”

“We are now under the Volcano of Dusk,” Ophra explained with a smile, “The werewolf mage-emperor, Sanur, created the world’s largest and most complex underground lava river under the volcano, so there’re some heat and gas seeping through the cracks in the rocks. But don’t worry, we have confirmed that there is no leakage.”

Nangong Wuyue protected herself with a layer of mist and grumbled, “Tsk… Why I always encounter this kind of thing. I’m starting to lose my scales.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

They walked all the way down the underpass, the farther they went the broader it became. They passed a few forks and some spacious stone chambers. Just as Hao Ren expected, there were three to five high-ranking knights or ascetics stationed at each fork and stone chamber. They built simple and crude camps and defense lines in the underworld, monitoring any movements that could be heard in the maze-like of corridors.

At the same time, Hao Ren finally saw what he wanted to see: The First Born’s tentacles began to appear on the surrounding wall.

When Auburn looked at the winding and huge tentacles, his face finally lost the kind of stone-like calm and his poker face even slightly twitched a little bit. As a cardinal who had a strong and firm mind and was very sensitive to the ‘Lifeblood’ and ‘The Power of Origins’, he could feel the powerful force and crazy thoughts in these tentacles more clearly than others. He explained to them, “These are the outer tentacles, and only a few of them have the ability to interfere with the mind. You won’t be affected if you avoid them. So it’s safe here, but as we go further we will enter…”

“We’ll enter the key ‘organ’ of the First Born, I know, we went in there before,” Hao Ren said and nodded, “these tunnels should still be in the outer layer of the cavern, and you had opened the outer crust of the inner zone?”

“Right in front, but it’s not opened by us,” Orben nodded and led them to a fork in the road, “It took us 10 days to find the weak spot of the barrier left by the ancient mage-emperor in the tunnel, and it made us uneasy as we found a hole in it. Some of the tentacles of the First Born were spread out of that hole.”

10 minutes later, the team came to the ‘barrier entrance’. This was a huge round cavern. The walls around the cavern were covered with ancient and sacred writings. These were the seals and messages left by the first pope. Hundreds of ascetics and knights built forts and defense lines in the cave, closely monitoring the tentacles that spread from the west side of the cavern. Hao Ren saw the tentacles coming out of a huge rift, rather than ‘penetrating’ from the cracks as elsewhere, which indicated that the tentacles were using a more violent approach to break through the barrier, consciously expanding their access.

But it looked like this was just a short period of ‘false awakening’. Now those tentacles had fallen asleep again. Judging from the traces around the tentacles, their last ‘convulsions’ should be many years ago.

“It’s disturbing. How many things have happened underneath when we’re not aware of it?” said Ophra.

Hao Ren approached the tentacles gingerly. After confirming the tentacles were unresponsive, he stepped on them and climbed along the tentacles to the hole on the wall to see the situation on the other side.

The other side was the chamber where the First Born was sleeping. He saw a huge stone chamber filled with ominous red light. Countless tentacles converged from all directions to form an organ that looked like a twisted tumor. The organ was dormant and its faint red light was flickering at a very slow rate.

“The good news is that it’s sleeping very well, and the bad news is that this ‘tumor’ looks bigger than the one in the Dragonspine Ridge.” Hao Ren jumped back to the ground and asked, “Where is the Divine Sarcophagus? I want to analyze how it works.”

Orben pointed to a small stone house in the center of the garrison, said, “Right there.”

Chapter 514: The Progenitor of Life

 

The so-called Divine Sarcophagus was not actually a coffin but a black box that was one meter in length and less than half a meter in height. The box was made of an unknown material and its surface was engraved with dark red ancient runes. Several straight nicks divided the top half of the box into several large and small polygons, making it look like it was made up of many pieces.

It was smaller than Hao Ren had expected.

The room where the Divine Sarcophagus was stored in was located at the center of the cave. Hundreds of knights and ascetics guarded the stone chamber. The stone chamber itself was created by the most powerful earthen magicians, guaranteeing its ability to withstand the attack from the First Born’s tentacles. The four corners of the stone chamber were equipped with powerful instruments that transmitted the magical energy of the monastery around the Divine Sarcophagus. There were also thick scripture blankets on the four walls of the stone chamber. Aside from offering protection, the setting could also amplify the bioelectric signals released by the Divine Sarcophagus: perhaps, the facilities in the stone chamber could still hold the suppression signal for a day or two after the primordial tissue in the box died.

The stone chamber was not large. Only Hao Ren, Vivian, Ophra, and Cardinal Orben went inside. Hao Ren looked at the black box curiously and placed his hand on it. It felt a little warm, not like cold rock or metal. Of course, it was also possible that the “creature” inside the box was heating up the device. He patted his pocket and called the MDT out. “Can you feel it?”

“There are complex signals being released inside the container, including electromagnetic waves of three different frequencies and some other types of clutter.” The MDT hovered around the Divine Sarcophagus. “It’s a signal transmitter. It’s constantly releasing a signal to calm the big guy down.”

Cardinal Orben looked curiously at the little blue brick, which was floating in the air. However, considering the incredible power and technology the foreigners had, he did not comment on this seemingly human “alchemy”. Ophra asked, “Can you clone this signal?”

“I would at least have to touch it, and get some tissue samples or something.” The MDT flickered. “It’s easy to simulate electromagnetic waves released by the Divine Sarcophagus with technology, but this thing involves occultism…. I think we should first examine it carefully.”

Hao Ren looked at Cardinal Orben. “Can you open it?” he asked.

The runes on Cardinal Orben’s forehead flickered. It was a sign of intense thought. But before he set off, the pope had personally instructed to him to cooperate in the “research activities” of the foreigners. After some thought, he nodded and said, “Of course, but please be careful. It is irreplaceable.”

The cardinal placed his hand on the top of the Divine Sarcophagus and whispered an ancient scripture. As his chanting continued, the runes and lines on the surface of the Divine Sarcophagus gradually lit up. Then, the lid of the container broke along those straight lines into a few pieces before slowly floating up and flying apart.

Inside the container was a big lump of… something that was hard to describe.

It was a weird, creature-like thing. It was dark red, but mixed with a plant-like green. This bizarre piece of tissue looked like animal embryos connected together from end to end, with a dim light flashing in them. One-third of the container was filled with a thick red fluid, the texture of which quite resembled the lifeblood. The weird living tissue was soaked in it.

However, despite the fact that the fluid and living tissue looked weird, they were not disgusting. They exuded an incredibly soothing vibe, even a sense of sacredness; this was the material from which life originated. It was even more ancient than the First Born.

“This is the ‘Progenitor of Life’,” Ophra whispered as though she was afraid of waking the thing up. “This is the first time I’m seeing it.”

“I was fortunate enough to have seen it once, 150 years ago.” Cardinal Orben knitted his brows together. “At that time, it was more active than it is now.”

“It’s dying,” the MDT quickly concluded. “This is an organ that has been cut off… or fallen off during its normal evolutionary process. In any case, it is an incomplete living tissue. The main body has disappeared and this part of the organ is slowly failing.”

Vivian frowned. “What is it supposed to be?”

The MDT scanned the physical makeup of the Progenitor of Life in more detail. “It may be the ganglion of the Seed of Origin, used to give orders and accept commands. I’ve found that it has powerful signal broadcast and reception capabilities, just like a powerful broadcasting antenna. At the same time, it also has a certain ability to think and judge… But, this part of its function has already been suppressed. The Seed of Origin is really wonderful. Its organs can still survive for so long after being shed from the main body…”

Hao Ren instantly caught a key phrase. “Accept commands? What kind of commands?”

“I don’t know. My job is to only scan. It has a structure similar to an antenna, and seems to be capable of superluminal communication.” The MDT descended back onto Hao Ren’s shoulder. “Perhaps it receives commands from the goddess of creation. You said that the Seed of Origin was sown by the goddess to observe space. So, this thing definitely has a communication function. Perhaps, it flew to its destination and sent back photos or videos or something to its maker.”

Hao Ren’s eyes were fixated on the lump of living tissue. He originally thought that this thing was just a simple suppressor. Little did he expect it to be the ganglion of the Seed of Origin, much less an antenna!

More likely than not, it was normal. If the illusion he once saw was true, then the purpose of the goddess sowing the Seed was to observe the starry sky. Therefore, the Seed of Origin had to have the ability to communicate. The antenna that was sealed in the Divine Sarcophagus was the antenna of the Seed!

But now was definitely not the time to bring this stuff back for studying. Hao Ren shook his head, trying to calm himself down. “First, let’s see if you can clone this thing, or figure out the mechanism that’s inhibiting the First Born.”

“Let’s make a comprehensive clone, not one that just duplicates the signals. We need a physical clone, and this requires a tissue sample,” the MDT said while it moved forward. The cardinal immediately stood in front of the Divine Sarcophagus, blocking the MDT. His facial muscles were tense. “You’re not allowed to damage it…”

“I’m just taking a few tissue samples. That won’t kill it.” The MDT went around Orben. “This thing is tougher than you think. Even though it’s dying, it’s still healthier than you.”

The MDT was hovering above the mass of tissue before it stopped and froze. Looking at it for a few seconds, Hao Ren could not help but ask, “Well? Is there a problem?”

The MDT flew back and stuttered, “D-Dang, I forgot I have no hands! I’m just a PDA. I have no probes!”

Hao Ren was speechless.

In the end, it was the autonomous robot that Hao Ren took out from his Dimensional Pocket who did the collecting of the samples. It then sealed it in a special container, which could keep the living tissues alive. Such containers were standard issue equipment for inspectors, used to capture carbon-based biological specimens in other worlds, or leftovers—well, there was no mention in the operation manual for the second function, but Hao Ren had developed this usage himself and it worked well.

Cardinal Orben was now accustomed to the unusual gadgets that Hao Ren used.

“The equipment on the Petrachelys should be able to clone this thing, but this won’t solve the fundamental problem.” With arms akimbo, Hao Ren looked at the giant tentacles by the side of the cave. “I still need to find a way to kill this thing. Once and for all, and—”

“And it’s better not to create too much movement.” Ophra pointed down at their feet. “This is the west side of the Volcano of Dusk. It’s only a few hundred meters away from the nearest magma column. Every mage-emperor used different techniques to suppress the First Born; in Dragonspine Ridge, the mountain range formed a cage and there were rock monsters; here, they used magma. There are huge magma columns around the First Born’s key organs. The world’s largest magma lake may be deep beneath our feet. A group of elemental flames in the crater of the Volcano of Dusk suppresses the underground fires to prevent them from accidentally erupting or waking up the First Born. If you do something similar like last time—”

“The orbital artillery will destroy the magma system, causing the continental shelf to collapse. At least half of Holletta will be destroyed, and if the volcanic vapor enters the atmosphere, more than one-third of life on the planet will be extinct,” the MDT chimed in. “She’s right. My radar shows that the area is completely covered by intricate magma flow. The magma columns and the magma river wrap the First Born like a net. Obviously, this is man-made.”

Hao Ren was wide-mouthed and he said, “Then, I shall use my brain.”

Chapter 515: Farewell

 

The ancient mage-emperors obviously did not know how to effectively suppress the First Born, because they were all defeated. The First Born was forced to fall asleep under the influence of the safety device, and they had not really found a way to kill this primal creature. Therefore, after the First Born fell asleep, the suppressive measures they took were basically a gamble: each mage-emperor chose a different form of sealing in the hopes that they would work.

The mountainous barriers of Dragonspine Ridge and the lifeless rock monsters were proven to be ineffective, while the Giant Tree of Life was said to have withered. Now, the only seemingly functional and powerful seal was the Volcano of Dusk.

The volcano was pressing against the First Born. The werewolf mage-emperor, Sanur created under the volcano a web of magma flow and columns, so that they criss-crossed around the First Born’s organs like nails. The deep underground world here was far more complicated than the one in Beinz. The cracks and magma lakes formed a fragile but stable equilibrium, and as soon as the First born woke up, it would trigger the elemental flames in the Volcano of Dusk. The area would collapse and the First Born would fall into the magma deep in the mantle.

However, Sanur did not try to use this method to kill the sleeping First Born. He knew that merely pushing the monster into the magma was not enough to kill it. Instead, this would only lead to an early awakening. Therefore, Hao Ren speculated that the suppressions used beneath the Volcano of Dusk were just stopgap measures. The mage-emperor was expecting his “allies from the stars”, who were destined to never come.

Hao Ren decided to go into the First Born’s sleeping chamber after collecting the tissue samples and signal frequencies from the Divine Sarcophagus. The area ahead was a place that the average person could absolutely not venture into. Even holding the amulet of the Church, he or she may still be affected by the First Born’s illusion at any time. So this time, he only brought Vivian, Ophra, and Cardinal Orben with him. Everyone else stayed behind in the cavern.

Becky had wanted to follow: her professional habits as a mercenary made her feel that she ought to go deeper. Additionally, her mental strength was no less stronger than a high-level knight or ascetic, who could move freely in deep caverns. However, Hao Ren did not think it necessary to bring too many people along, so he let her and Lily stay back.

The four of them got into the sleeping chambers of one of the First Born’s sarcomas through a large crack in the rock barrier. They then groped themselves forward in the cavern system, which extended in all directions. The environment in the deep caverns was several times worse than the outside. The high heat was unbearable and the air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur. They were very close to the magma column. Also, from time to time, there were some strange sounds, and some chaotic visions in their mind. This was the First Born sleep-talking, and people who stepped into it would be involuntarily affected.

“This guy looks more ‘mature’ than the one in Dragonspine Ridge. Perhaps he is approaching ‘adulthood’,” said Hao Ren. “I remember that the interference of the First Born in Dragonspine Ridge wasn’t this strong, which I’d only heard it occasionally.”

Ophra nodded. “Rumour has it that the evil spirits of the magic emperors are underneath Volcano of Dusk. Soldiers in the Limestone Fortress often heard a strange sound from deep underground, but they did not know it was from the First Born.”

After a long while, a huge underground rift appeared before them.

This black rift stretched out far on both sides beyond their sight. The spot where they were standing was right in the middle of the rift. On the cliffs of the rift, giant tentacles criss-crossed the gap like bridges while down at the bottom of the rift, dark red magma was flowing slowly, and there was even a magma waterfall at a few hundred meters from the exit of the cavern, forming a fiery pillar of fire. The red light emanating from the magma was illuminating the hellish underground world. Hao Ren looked up and could only see a faint shadow: it was the roof woven by more tentacles, holding the rock layer above it.

The air was filled with an unbearable smell, and every breath felt as if their lungs were burning. Vivian summoned a frosty barrier and barely blocked out the bad air around them. She then released a small bat. The little bat circled a few times near the opposite cliff, and when it came back, it was almost like a dried meat.

Vivian snapped the bat back into her body and frowned. “There is no way ahead. Only one tentacle connects to the opposite ramp, like a bridge, but the path is very bad and the tentacle is a bit too thin…” she said.

“This is a place full of maliciousness,” Cardinal Orben took a deep breath as the runes on his skin glittered. “The air is filled with hostility.”

“There is no need to go any deeper. This is roughly the core area.” Hao Ren shook his head and released the MDT. “How’s the structure scanning?”

“Completed,” the MDT projected a complex scan of the subterranean world, showing an ellipsoidal region of lava, rift, tentacles, caverns, and weird mass of biological tissue which wove together like a twisted nightmare. “We’d better go back and find a better solution.”

Hao Ren sighed. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The expedition group returned to the Limestone Fortress and then teleported directly back to the royal city.

They did not go to the giant tree of life, because the situation of the giant tree of life was not complicated, and it was much easier to resolve than Volcano of Dusk. Moreover, in Hao Ren’s action plan, as long as he could deal with the First Born beneath the volcano, the underground cavern beneath the giant tree of life was not going to be a problem.

Of course, Hao Ren had still asked for some information from Ophra. It was a map the monks of Disciples of Glory had drawn after spending two months exploring the underground beneath the giant tree of life, and historical documents about the giant tree. No matter these stuff were useful or not, they could never have too much information.

Several other officers and cardinals had returned to their respective work. They each needed to find their own boss, and Ophra and Hao Ren had also returned to Becky’s manor. The female marshal looked a bit worried, though. “How should I report it?”

“Let the king be assured. I have an idea,” Hao Ren said with confidence. “In fact, I had several plans in mind when I was in the caverns… But all plans have a certain risk. The situation in Volcano of Dusk is very complex, I have to prevent the magma from breaking out.”

“We’ll go back and study it. We’ll come back immediately as soon as there’s a solution. The next time we come back, the problem of the First Born on this planet should be solved completely,” said Lily, sounding like an expert. “Anyway, I’m sure landlord will have his way. He is a high-tech guy.”

“You’re leaving now?” Ophra looked at them then Becky. “Is she staying back?”

“She could not leave the manor estate here,” Hao Ren shrugged. “But it doesn’t make a difference for us as we can travel through space and time just like running out to buy some groceries across the street. When we’re not around, please look after Becky. Well, you know this girl has a little brain—”

Before he could finish speaking, Becky shot him a glare while Lily who was next to him immediately made a threatening growl. Hao Ren looked at Lily with a forced smile. “I’m not talking about you…”

Lily gritted her teeth. “But I know you’re going to use me as an example! I know you too well—a cracked bell can never sound well…”

Everyone was quiet. Vivian patted Lily’s shoulder. “Now how do you sound?”

Lily had not got the drift. “Arf?”

Hao Ren pinched Lily’s ear as he smiled looking at Ophra. “About the cult; I need you to keep an eye on them. I heard that there’s still no lead to them?”

“They’re a loose sect, and it’s very likely it’s a cult made up of a dozen small gangs,” said Ophra, shaking her head. “We only know they are still active in certain areas, but we’ve not been able to catch anyone.”

“Take some of them alive,” Hao Ren nodded. “I want to study the gigantic brain which they’ve summoned.”

“And remembering to pass the letter to the pope and the king,” Vivian reminded Ophra. “It contains the truth that we’ve mastered about the First Born ending the world for which the magic emperors have been the scapegoat for ten thousand years. Now you guys should right the wrong. No matter whether those bigwigs believe it or not, the magic emperors are indeed innocent.”

Ophra nodded slightly. “Understood.”

Ophra left subtly before Hao Ren sent her off, leaving Hao Ren to bid farewell to Becky. The mercenary girl was still very reluctant to give up her friends at this time. After all, they had lived together for so long. Even mercenaries had feelings. “You must come to see me often, even if after the problem of the First Born is solved. From now on, please bring me along when you’re going somewhere exciting. I still wish to sit in your spaceship going for adventure. Oh, please don’t forget to bring me some potato chips and Coke the next time you come….”

Hao Ren looked interestingly at the rare expression of the maiden. “If you couldn’t bear to see us go, why not go with us back to the earth?”

Becky jumped a metre back, clinging to the door pillar and said, “Drive safe. I’ll rather stay as a parvenu here.”

Hao Ren: “…..”

After they left Becky’s manor, Vivian asked, “Are we going directly from Alamanda to Andrea Castle? Taking the spaceship or teleporting?”

“No. There’s still one thing left,” Hao Ren looked up slightly at the sky. “a ruin we have yet seen.”

Chapter 516: The Lunar Ruins

 

Whenever night fell, the silver moons hung high in the sky. Standing on the earth in Holletta, watching the night sky was a very different experience from watching it on Earth. The two moons—one big, one small—sprinkled their glow upon the earth. The most striking feature of the primary moon was always its irregular red spot.

It was the former site of the legendary moon city. During ancient times, the Magic Empire used incredible technology to send humans into space. The mortals at that time were even capable of building cities and factories on the moon. In those years, the moon was as bustling as the earth, with vast fields, magic towers, and large transit stations or landing platforms for ships to transport passengers to and fro, day and night.

However, when the catastrophic natural disaster struck, the moon and the earth suffered the same fate. Holletta’s ancient manuscripts recorded the terrible scenes witnessed by stargazers on the surface of the earth: a dozen small red spots suddenly appeared on the moon. These red spots then expanded rapidly at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. The silhouette of the city on the moon’s surface seemed to be engulfed by the red spots as quickly as the melting of cheese in a hot oven. The whole moon became blood-red, and it slowly faded after a few days. The last remaining redness was the Great Red Spot. People firmly believed that the Great Red Spot was the same thing as the Beinz Blood Lake.

But, whether the red spot on the lunar surface was another blood lake or not remained to be seen.

After bidding farewell to Becky, Hao Ren did not choose to directly teleport back to Alamanda Station. Instead, he released the Petrachelys into the remote wilderness before setting off to the planet’s giant satellite—the primary moon.

The space there was dark and vast, and the stars in the Plane of Dreams were just as colorful as the ones in the real world. Among the bright stars, no one knew how many more small worlds, which harbored life had been discovered. As his perspective broadened, Hao Ren was only beginning to consider many things that he had never taken the initiative to think about as he sailed in space. He looked at the twinkling stars and realized that finding all the planets with the Seed of Origin was almost impossible. He had to find some kind of shortcut or pattern, which could perhaps allow him to restore the drifting route originally taken by the Seed of Origin tens of millions of years ago. He could even extrapolate the whereabouts of the goddess of creation.

“It’s totally silent.” Stuck to the control panel of the spacecraft, the MDT lamented, “Just dead silence.”

Vivian looked up, perplexed. “What do you mean by ‘totally silent’?”

“This universe.” The MDT switched on the transmission monitor. “Look at these channels, only our own signal is present. All types and frequencies of local communication channels are silent; electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, quantum communications, subspace interference… nothing. Just silence. All channels are silent. You don’t feel it, but I feel like I’m floating in a desert. The whole universe is pitch quiet. There are only a few oases that are still lingering like Holletta, which don’t even possess the ability to make their voices heard outside their own star system.”

“The quieter it gets, the more disturbing it becomes. This means, those civilizations that have the ability to go interstellar may be extinct, or else the universe wouldn’t be as silent as this.” Hao Ren shook his head. From his Dimensional Pocket, he took out a foot-long, silver-white metal canister, which contained a sample of the tissues taken from the Divine Sarcophagus. “Lily, send this to the lab. The server is ready.”

Lily ran out with the jar. Vivian looked up at Hao Ren and said, “You’re going to clone the Seed of Origin, aren’t you?”

“Uh… you guessed it?” Hao Ren scratched his head. “I thought I managed to hide it from Orben pretty well.”

“Come on. Only bumpkins would believe those statements you made in cohorts with the MDT. You won’t be able to fool me. It’s not like I don’t know what an electromagnetic wave is. As long as you can reproduce the same frequency, carbon-based or silicon-based, who cares?” Vivian said. “The purpose for your collection of samples is to study the Seed of Origin.”

“I was afraid that if I had made my intentions clear, Cardinal Orben would not be so willing to cooperate with us, let alone let us have the samples,” said Hao Ren, smiling wryly. “The Seed of Origin equals to the goddess. We didn’t know what their bottom line was, so it was better to beat around the bush.”

“But, do you really think it’s that easy to clone the Seed of Origin?” Vivian’s brows were pulled together. “I don’t think it’s a living creature in the conventional sense… Although it seems to have flesh and blood, God knows what we’ll get. Be careful. If things get out of hand, it could become a biohazard.”

Hao Ren nodded. “I know. The success rate of cloning is probably less than 10 %… but it’s better than nothing. At least we can find out what the Seed of Origin is made up of.”

“Have you gotten any ideas on how to handle the remaining two First Borns?” Nangong Wuyue had not interrupted them the entire time, but she chimed in all of a sudden. “It’s said that the Giant Tree of Life is easier to deal with. The critical one is in the Volcano of Dusk. It’s too unstable.”

“There are a few preliminary plans, but I have to wait until I go back and consult with the experts.” Hao Ren deliberately kept things suspenseful. Meanwhile, the MDT suddenly chimed in as well, “Let’s not talk now. Here we are at the ruins of the moon.”

The spacecraft had neared the primary moon’s orbit and was rapidly descending. They zoomed past the moon at a height of two or three kilometers above its surface, and saw the ancient but almost unrecognizable face of the ruins.

The lunar surface was lifeless, gray and white. It was mostly flat and covered with fine debris, while the ruins of the Lunar Kingdom could be seen scattered everywhere. Traces of man-made objects could also be seen amidst the ruins. Some of them were gray debris like buildings or towers, which lay on the ground. But all of these things had been severely corroded. The degree of corrosion even made them appear “melted”. The buildings had collapsed and all of their edges or corners were rounded, giving the impression that they had melted like plastic.

The MDT launched the image recovery system in the spacecraft, trying to restore the original appearance of the ruins. Soon, a holographic projection of a magnificent city covered the real lunar surface. The MDT used a few color patches to color-code different areas of the model. “This should be an exterior wall. It’s completely crushed, and only the base is left. This location was probably a facility like an energy well. This piece is the take-off and landing pad for spacecrafts.”

“The technology of the Ancient Magic Empire seemed to be more advanced than expected. Their lunar station was not just a small station but a mature space colony. The planet must have undergone a profound ecological transformation.” Nangong Wuyue stared at the lunar city simulated on the holographic projection, imagining the planet’s lush greenness under a man-made dome. “Perhaps on top of our heads, there was once a layer of ecological shield… Brother, could you please stop digging the chair?”

Nangong Sanba was studying the seat of the spacecraft. He looked up and eyeballed Hao Ren. “Did you really yank out a spaceship from thin air?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Haven’t you realized now, have you?”

“In fact, no. Not yet,” said Nangong Sanba, looking at Hao Ren, dumbfounded. “Spaceship. Alien technology. Otherwodly magic. Something isn’t right here. Is the nature of your work considered a science fiction or a magic?”

“I think I’m a clergyman,” Hao Ren nodded with a solemn face. “And if you continue to smash my spaceship, I’ll throw you out—it’s minus 200 degrees outside, vacuum.”

Nangong Sanba immediately sat upright, revealing his usual big-tailed wolf appearance. “Of course, as a demon hunter, my adaptability is still very strong. What are we doing here by the way? Exploring an extra-terrestrial civilisation?”

“Do you still remember the tentacles you saw in the caverns?” Hao Ren pointed to an image on the holographic projection. “That thing can destroy a whole ecosystem, and we’re here… to find out how that thing had launched a star war.”

The holographic projection was showing the scene in front of the spaceship. At the end of the horizon, there was a piece of red, which was the Great Red Spot of the moon.

It was a frozen blood lake.

“Look at those things by the lake,” Lily’s fluffy hair erected slowly on her ears. “It seems to be tentacles…”

Chapter 517: Super Bomb

 

The Petrachelys slowly decelerated over the ruins on the moon’s surface, scanning every detail of the city. At the same time, it was moving towards the crystal-like, red area. According to data from the remote sensing equipment, the red substance was almost identical to the one from the Beinz Blood Lake.

The entire red area was extremely vast. It was estimated to be more than six million square kilometers in size and it had an irregular oval shape. The original Beinz Blood Lake seemed to be nothing compare to this. Large amounts of corroded and melted debris were visible at the edge of the red zone. The distortion of the ruins there was more severe than that of other places. It was apparently a result of long-term contact with the red substance. At the border of the red substance and the surrounding ruins, the most striking feature was undoubtedly the tentacles.

The spacecraft landed on a flat spot by the edge of the red area. Hao Ren got everyone to wear a life-support collar and led several autonomous machines to leave the spacecraft.

Nangong Sanba jumped on the spot. “This is how it feels like to land on the moon… I feel light.”

“The gravity here is actually greater than the gravity of the moon near my hometown,” Hao Ren said. He then looked up at Lily. “May I borrow your Flamejoy?”

Lily fluttered over as she brandished her claws. “Actually, I think I want to rename it and call it the Sword of Damocles…”

Vivian and Hao Ren glared at her. “No!”

Lily whined, and moved to the side with her tail between her legs, feeling dejected.

With the warm Flamejoy in hand, Hao Ren cautiously crossed the boundary between the two areas. He stepped on the frozen red lake, and scratched the ice, collecting some ice flakes as well as melted liquid. The nature of this liquid was almost indistinguishable from that of water. It was not known why the lifeblood had degenerated into this state after completing its task of annihilation and creation of life.

Then, he returned Lily’s claw before he approached the tentacles by the lakeside. He discovered that these tentacles had been in a withered state for a long time and they were different from what he saw on the earth’s surface: they were more slender, the pattern on their skin was neater, and their texture had a strong sense of metal. It looked like they were from another part of the First Born’s body… or they could be a functional spinoff.

The MDT flew around and observed the surrounding conditions, speculating the scene after the destruction of the moon surface: “The ancient people’s lunar ecosystem may be completely dependent on artificial environment. So the atmosphere and constant temperature environment was gone after the city’s destruction. The blood tide became a large piece of ice when it receded to this area. The tentacles should be the last batch to grow from the blood tide before the lunar environment was completely unfit for life. So there was no new tentacles growing. As a result, they were all concentrated on the edge of the blood tide.”

“Look at the bottom of the lake.” Hao Ren lowered his head and pointed to the red ice surface. With extraordinary eyesight, he could vaguely see the shadows underneath the thick layer of ice, where human relics and building bases were decomposed by the blood tide. They were originally immersed in this red liquid and should be completely dissolved, but the unusually rapid loss of temperature following the shutdown of the lunar surface thermostat had caused the blood tide to stop prematurely and turn into red water. Those ruins that had been halfway decomposed were frozen in state.

These phenomena would not be found on any other ecological planets. The special artificial environment of the moon city had retained these valuable things for study.

MDT happily hit the ice. “Oh, this is a good thing! We can take a look at the decomposition process the thing that had gone through!”

Hao Ren shot the MDT a sideways look. The latter was swiftly spinning on the ice like a drill bit. “Do you know that you are just a PDA? I have three autonomous robots here!”

Then the MDT came to its senses and quickly drifted back into the air and said, “Then let the autonomous robots do the drilling.”

While waiting for the autonomous robots boring through the ice, Hao Ren threw the MDT another sideway look. “Please refrain from downloading anymore Korean dramas. You will degenerate yourself very quickly by doing so.”

The MDT was angered. “Do you think I like to do that? Your dog likes to watch Korean dramas, Battie likes to watch cooking programmes, the siren likes to watch Animal World, and you daughter likes to watch the Pleasant Goat! No one’s watching the TV at home but asking me to show The Big Bang Theory every evening at 7:30 on the coffee table in 3D! After that you would begin to play DOTA! My X-880 series of thinking Core, full-fledged artificial intelligence, three-meter-wide HD holographic projection, 1PB minimum internet speed, you use it to play DOTA? My internal storage is filled with the amusing things of your family, and you complain that I’m brain dead? Oh yeah, speaking of which, who is the one asking me to soak in the basin together with a fish, eh?”

Hao Ren was lost for words.

Everyone pretended to have heard nothing as they turned away their heads and continued to mind their own business but actually they had got nothing to do, for example, Lily went to grind the stone.

Vivian looked at the autonomous robots drilling and collecting samples from the ice, she felt she should be able to play a part. She summoned a large swarm of bats. “I’ll check out the nearby tentacles…”

Before her voice trailed off, the little bats literally dropped like flies, struggling on the ground. Vivian was rooted to the spot. Hao Ren facepalmed and said, “You did it again—don’t you know that this place is a vacuum? Bats won’t fly in a vacuum.”

Hao Ren felt it was a miracle that this team could still survive till this day.

While he was sighing, Nangong Sanba’s voice was suddenly heard on the radio. “Hey, can you hear me? I’ve found something here. I wonder if you are interested to take a look.”

Hao Ren did not expect the half-baked demon hunter was the one who made the first discovery. He quickly went to check it out with the others. Nangong Sanba was standing on a large rock, hand pointing to the edge of the red ice. “There’s seed frozen below—an extra-large seeds.”

Hao Ren took a peek and found that an ellipsoidal thing was at the edge of the ice layer which was relative thin. The thing was about three metres in length and shaped like an olive. The tip had a tentacles sprouting out. He hurriedly commanded an autonomous machine to dig the ‘seed’ out from the ice as everyone looked on curiously.

The huge ‘seed’ looked like a small spaceship with very complicated structure. In addition to the tentacle on top, raised pattern of lines could be seen on the lower half, and between the lines were a few weird meat balls. On waistline of the ‘seed’, some sharp organs stuck out from crack as if they were some kind of sensors. Undoubtedly, these were made by the First Born, and for some unknown reasons—perhaps because of the end of the lunar ecosystem—these ‘seed’ had died before it was activated.

The MDT flew around the seed and had quickly figured out its structure and basic functions: it was much easier to understand than the Progenitor or The First Born.

“These raised sarcomas are some kind of antenna operating by gravitational wave communication. They must be used to communicate with the mother First Born on the earth’s surface. These concentric structures are some kind of highly efficient engine, biological tissues which can generate powerful impulses. Judging from its residual structure, it can form a circulating magnetic field around itself. By harnessing the particles of the solar wind, it could propel itself forwards rapidly by throwing the particles backwards. Just like paddling in the water, it can be used within the solar system. The stuff in the middle must be some kind of sensor, perhaps used to capture the reaction of life,” said the MDT as it paused for a second. “Also the possibility that the thing possesses some advanced capabilities cannot be ruled out. Its core has an organ of extraordinary mass. Though already deformed, in the high-energy acceleration ring of that organ is still clearly visible. It is either a fusion reactor or a super bomb.”

Hao Ren was a little flabbergasted as he touched the shell of the ‘seed’. “… was this thing that destroyed the lunar ecosystem?”

“At least this is one of the weapons,” the MDT floated up and down. “There is no body of the First Born on the primary moon, so the First Born on the earth’s surface must have attacked the Second Borns on other planets by launching some kind of interplanetary firepower from the earth’s surface. This seed is its battleship—as long as it can make blood, it’s enough to destroy the ecosystem on any planet.”